Every Day A New Reason
by HecateA
Summary: James has to leave on Order business for ten days, but he has a plan to make sure his girlfriend won't miss him too much. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy the pure fluff I'm writing while pretending that summer school hasn't started!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **NA

* * *

**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping War

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC (x2); Seeds; Bow Before the Blacks; Forehead Kisses; Short Jog

**Representation(s): **NA

**Bonus challenge(s): **Middle Name; Second Verse (Ladylike); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Machismo); Navigate

**Tertiary bonus challenge: **NA

**Word Count: **1491

* * *

_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team): **Lily Evans and James Potter (Patronus Pair)

**List (Prompt): **Big List (Love Letters)

* * *

**Every Day A New Reason **

"I'll be gone for ten days," James said, pecking her lips. His hand moved up to cup her face, and his thumb ran in circles over her cheek. "It'll go by super quickly, Evans. Remember when we had to spend whole summers apart?"

"To be fair, I didn't like you for most of those summers," Lily said. "And then between sixth and seventh year we saw each other nearly every weekend and wrote constantly."

"Well, chin up Evans, maybe I wrote again."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily asked.

"You've got ten days to figure it out," James replied with a grin and a kiss to her forehead.

He clasped Sirius, Peter, and Remus' hands before following Fabian Prewet, his partner on this undercover mission, out the door.

Lily turned towards the other Marauders.

"Do you have any idea what he was talking about?" Lily asked.

"Yes, but if we told you, we'd have to kill you Evans, and none of us want to do that," Sirius said. He threw an arm around Lily. "He did tell us to order Chinese food and keep you company tonight, though."

"That's good," Lily said, leaning her head against him.

"Just don't try squeezing us for information," Remus said. "Our lips are sealed."

* * *

It didn't take long for Lily to catch on. It only took until the first cups of tea, actually which, given that they were spending the afternoon playing cards, was only a few hours after James left. She found the first of his little note neatly folded up in a neat square and tucked in the sugar bowl.

_Dear Evans, _

_I suspect that you will find this note first given how sweet all of you drink your tea. I would make a joke about that, but these are meant to be love letters and though love includes a fair amount of gentle teasing, that wouldn't feel quite right here. I should be writing something more along the lines of a sonnet, I think. That won't happen, unfortunately, because love is also about sparring your loved ones from unnecessary pain. _

_ Anyways: good look finding the rest! I know I'm gone ten days, but I tell you I love you more than once a day on average so there's more than that hidden around the house. I was going to tell you how many of these little love letters you should look for, but on second thought the element of unknown will help make this all the better for you. _

_ All my love (or a fraction of it anyways), _

_ James _

She read it twice and folded it up again, a smile hanging on her lips mindlessly. She tucked the note in her back pocket and carried the tray of teacups back into the living room where the others were shuffling cards and eating popcorn.

"How much do you know?" she asked suspiciously.

"How much do _you _know?" Peter asked.

Lily smiled and set the cups down on the table.

"Enough," she said. "Who's dealing?"

* * *

There was one hidden under her pillow. When she found it, she reached out to turn the lamp on her nightstand back on to read it.

_Dear Evans, _

_Good night. _

_Sleep tight. _

_Don't let the bed bugs bite. _

_And if they do, _

_Knock them with a shoe, _

_Until they get black and blue. _

_ -Muggle Proverb, supposedly. According to Evans. Who has been known to pull my leg about these things. In any case, sweet dreams. _

_Another fraction of my love,_

_James_

* * *

_Dear Evans, _

_I'm not here to start your day off with a bad pun as we brush our teeth. Thankfully for you, this note's here to start your day right via writing. If you look to the back, you'll see one pun per day. Make sure to only read one every morning, or else you'll ruin your own surprise. I mean, I'm not there to stop you. But please don't. _

_Best,_

_James _

* * *

_Dear Evans, _

_I had a sneaking suspicion that you would decide to crack open _The Princess Bride _while I was gone since you'd nearly finished that big tome on Charms Theory and this is your feel-good story. I promise like it too, even if you think I look distracted and bored when we watch the film. Enjoy your reading with a cup of tea, perhaps, or maybe coffee if it's the morning. As you wish. _

_Another piece of my love, _

_James_

* * *

_Dear Evans,_

_You thought I didn't know where you hid your stash of chocolate, didn't you? Joke's on you: I've known all along. I just decided to let you have it is all. I took the liberty to replenish your stocks before leaving; hope that's alright. _

_More of my love,_

_James _

* * *

_Dear Evans, _

_I miss you. _

_(I know what you're thinking: I wasn't technically gone while I was writing these letters. But you were out to the farmer's market and you went with Remus, so you've been gone for hours and so yes, I do miss you). _

_Love, _

_James _

* * *

_Dear Evans, _

_How on Earth did you find this note? Colour me impressed, Evans. I'd hidden it in the weirdest place I could possibly imagine, and yet here we are… _

_Feel free to redeem his note for one evening of whatever you want upon my return. I have some ideas; but I'll let you choose. _

_Love, love, love, _

_James _

* * *

Lily would admit it: she was actively looking for those little notes now. She knew who her boyfriend was: there was no telling how many of those letters were scattered around, in the crooks and crannies of the little old cottage that had crooks and crannies to spare.

Ten days was a lot, what could Lily say? She was only on Day 7, but there she was, sneaking through James' sock drawer. She wondered if he'd expect her to do that, the same way he'd seemed to anticipate all the other places she'd go and check and look at. He knew her just like the back of his hand. She imagined how much ink he'd stained his with, writing these letters and notes. He was a messy writer. Merlin, how had he hidden them from her in the first place? He was an apt liar and sneak, sure, but very bad at keeping things from her.

Or so Lily thought, until her hand bumped into the little box and…

She dropped it back into the sock drawer as if it had burned her fingertips. She slammed the drawer shut and rushed out of the bedroom, closing that door too.

Even that didn't put enough distance between them, so she Apparated to Remus and Sirius' flat, where Peter happened to be as well.

"James is going to propose, isn't he?" Lily asked.

"NO," Sirius said. "No, no, no, no, no."

"We don't know anybody named James," Remus said.

"Peter," Lily said.

"No," Peter said. "No, you will not crack me."

"I found the ring," Lily said.

"_NO," _Sirius wailed again.

"And? Did you like it?" Remus asked.

"Well I didn't look at it!" Lily said. "It was an accident! I wasn't… I wasn't looking through his things, he just left all these notes, and I was looking for more because I miss him, and then I found the ring, but I didn't look at it because he probably has some grand thing planned… I mean, he's away for ten days, and look at how elaborate _that _was!"

"He wasn't," Sirius said. "He didn't have a big thing planned. He was going to talk to you about it. Ask you where you stood on the issue. And after doing that, he was probably going to think of something crazy and perfect—granted—but he was genuinely just going to ask. He's had that ring for ages. He just really, really loves you Evans."

She reached into the pockets of her dress and took out all the little notes. She had about twenty of them.

"I know," Lily said.

"It's a really nice ring," Remus promised.

"You helped him pick it out, then?"

"My lips are sealed," he answered.

* * *

What he maybe hadn't anticipated, was that two could play at his game. He wasn't the only one who could leave notes in hidden, unsuspecting places:

_Dear Potter, _

_You thought you could pull a fast one on me, and you did. You do every day, actually, and that's one of the reasons I love you so much. I love waking up next to you every day, knowing I'm in love, and going to bed knowing that I'll wake up and love you for a new reason every day. It's one of the reasons I'm excited to spend the rest of my life with you, you know._

_So go ahead: surprise me with the question and how you ask it. Just know that my answer won't be a surprise to you._

_All my love and more,_

_Lily Evans Potter _


End file.
